The Hobby of Energy Secretary Steven Chu

quanminoan writes "Nobel Laureate and US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has continued to publish even while in federal office. While previous research topics include gravitational redshift, Chu has coauthored a paper entitled 'Subnanometre single-molecule localization registration and distance measurements' which discusses a way to optically image objects as small as 0.5 nm — a major step down from the previous limit of 10 nm. Chu does this in his free time, claiming 'I just consider it my equivalent of ... vegging out in front of the TV.'"

Comments

His equivalent of TV is publishing papers

[Anonymous Coward]

Ouch, the feeling of terrible inadequacy, laziness and lack of accomplishment. :P

Re:His equivalent of TV is publishing papers

[nomadic]

Every year you age, it will get worse.

bill richardsons hobby

[ifeelswine]

was doing fred flintstone impersonations

Right Wing and Moores Law

[OldSoldier]

Two comments...

a) how long before right wing pundits claim that this is proof Chu isn't doing the job he was hired for?
b) is this viewing technique applicable in reverse for microchip optical etching/lithography?

Re:Right Wing and Moores Law

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Bingo, as a "rightwing nut" I couldn't care as long as he does his job when he's supposed to.

That disqualifies you from being a "nut" - at least in this area.
Now if you want to lay claim to believing Obama was born in Kenya and is a secret muslim terrorist, you can have that title back.

Re:Right Wing and Moores Law

[EdIII]

Obama was born in Kenya

I. Don't. Fucking. Care.

Quite seriously, why is that even important?

I think a requirement that you have been a citizen, naturalized or not, for at least 15-20 years is reasonable. That would indicate you at least have some understanding of our culture and experience. There is already an age requirement, for pretty much the same reasons. That way, the unwashed masses could not get psychotic and vote in some barely 20 something American Idol finalist.

Having to be born within some geographic boundaries as a serious consideration on whether or not I want you as my President? Ridiculous.... It is not much different than having to establish nobility on both sides for 5 generations. Way too much like a birthright to me. Why not call it something like Rule by Divine GPS Coordinates?

We are all immigrants in this land, or children of immigrants. To grant a birthright, IMO, goes against what I consider being an American is. The idea is that WE get to elect our President. Why should our choice be limited on such an irrational basis? No felons? Makes sense. No children, or person under the age of 35? Sure, we want somebody mature. Purple? Uhhhh, what?

I really could care less if Obama turned out to have been somewhere else on this planet. Saying he is secretly a fundamentalist Islamic Terrorist under Deep Cover is just CRAZY. No other words for it.

What I am more concerned with is his piss poor performance so far as a President. Change never occurred, and things are really getting worse. Especially our rights, ACTA, Medical reform, reigning in Wall Street, ridiculous bail outs, etc. The last thing I care about right now is that he was allegedly born in Kenya.

Re:Right Wing and Moores Law

[Anonymous Coward]

Having to be born within some geographic boundaries as a serious consideration on whether or not I want you as my President? Ridiculous.... It is not much different than having to establish nobility on both sides for 5 generations. Way too much like a birthright to me. Why not call it something like Rule by Divine GPS Coordinates?

You're right, that would be silly.

But the Constitution doesn't say anything of the kind. It says, "a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution."

You do know that children born to Americans outside the US are still citizens, right? That pregnant American women overseas are not rushed home in a terrified panic lest their children be foreigners with no right of residence? There's this whole nifty procedure we've got for these scenarios. There's this form you fill out with the local US Embassy to register the birth so that there won't be any problems later on when your child needs to prove their citizenship and their birth certificate is in Farsi or Basque.

It might seem like Rule by Map, but that's really only true when dealing with, say, a non-citizen immigrant family who had one child before immigrating and another after. In that circumstance, yes, the location of the birth made all the difference, and the map won. I think edge cases like that are an acceptable sacrifice to make in the name of preserving our jus soli rather than jus sanguinis system of citizenship.

I think the natural-born thing was a pretty reasonable defense mechanism for a tiny, fledgling group of republics who had just fought off the suzerainty of a king who had never set foot there. A king, indeed, who ruled over a great many lands he'd never set foot in; one amongst many such. Seems like a pretty fool-proof way to ensure that your leader has a vested interest in your nation's welfare, and isn't simply a silver-tongued French provocateur, no?

If you don't like it, lobby to have the Constitution amended. It's a legacy of a bygone era, certainly, but it's not as capricious or asinine as you suggest.

Re:Easier to get published

[Anonymous Coward]

He is a Nobel Laureate. If that does not help him out then the extra boost for being a cabinet secretary is probably not going to be much extra help. Oh, and get a grip, wanker.

Not too surprising

[Weezul]

There are people around with amazing personalities, definitely not all top level academics are this dedicated, but they exist. Anyone who's done a PhD and postdoc(s) at top tier research universities will have spent time schmoozing with several.

Obama got this guy largely because he asked. If a president doesn't get high level people, he's very likely got a reason he doesn't want them. Bush (cough)

Re:Easier to get published

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Oh, and get a grip, wanker.

I think that's pretty much the definition of a wanker.

NO!

[Yaos]

It's disgusting that we allow this person to be in office. His pro-science methods are incompatible with energy policy, pure and simple.

Re:NO!

[Beelzebud]

Fucking magnets, how do they work? And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist Y’all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed!

Re:Beats him whinging about Americans being spoile

[Myji Humoz]

Americans aren't spoiled compared to most other Westerners? If you actually read the article, he said "The American public ... just like your teenage kids, aren't acting in a way that they should act" with respect to climate change. He seems correct, and I would say that it's a welcome change from PR spinning and political doublespeak.

Re:He should continue doing useful work...

[bunratty]

Question: What is the purpose of China's One Child Policy is to decrease the Chinese population?

Answer: To decrease the Chinese population.

The Chinese population has nearly doubled since the One Child Policy started.

But one has to wonder What would the population be today had there been no One Child Policy?

Critical thinking: It's more that a knee-jerk reaction based on a sound bite.

Re:He's Qualified Because He's a Nerd?

[Quiet_Desperation]

I work with people who have titles like "Chief Scientist". Some of them, sure, I'd vote for them for some office or another because I've seen them handle things like management and budget (this is the private sector after all) and how it pertains to pushing the edges of R&D. Concepts like "We can afford *this* cool breakthrough this year. Put *that* even cooler idea in your top drawer, and we'll explore it next year when we'll have more budget, but put hooks into your current design here and here for it so we can leverage the hardware we build this year."

Others, if they were in charge, well, let's just say I'm not a violent person, but I'd personally lead the rebel army that took them down.

Scientists are just people. The geekverse needs to let go of this scientist worship. Yes, this country needs to appreciate math and science more and yada yada and all that. I grok that and support it wholeheartedly. I'm ever considering writing a book to reach segments of our society previously written off for such things. But this idea that some here and elsewhere have that scientists are automatically these cool people dedicated to truth, justice and unbiased world views is pure fantasy. I can't even figure out where it came from other than as a reaction to all the religious loonery,

Bottles Preserves

[Culture20]

He makes his own Chu Jelly. The blue's okay, but don't eat the purple.

I know this is supposed to be an article where we

[Rei]

.. make fun of Chu, but I am such a Chu groupie. A surefire way to draw me to a conference is to announce that he'll be speaking there. ;) I just loved him during his confirmation hearing, how he perked up when finally asked a question that was even remotely technical. "Now we're getting to Science! I love this!" I had read some of his papers before he was even tapped for the position; I was so thrilled to hear he was picked. He really knows his stuff.

His big weakness is that he's no politician, and he sometimes has trouble keeping is mouth shut from speaking politically inconvenient things. For example, dealing with the hydrogen people... ;)

He reminds me of GW Bush

[Z8]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/bush-finds-error-in-fermilab-calculations,1463/

Funny, but the fact that it's funny is also sad (sad that it's so ridiculous to think he'd be interested in science). Glad that what was parody is now sorta true.

Re:He should continue doing useful work...

[Artifakt]

Except the Dept was really created to control nuclear applications, both for reactors and bombmaking. It wouldn't have become a Cabinet level post with armed agent personnel without the Nuclear side.

Here's their mission statement. I've highlighted the Nukestuff:

The Department of Energy's overarching mission is to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States; to promote scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission; and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the national nuclear weapons complex. The Department's strategic goals to achieve the mission are designed to deliver results along five strategic themes:
Energy Security: Promoting America's energy security through reliable, clean, and affordable energy
Nuclear Security: Ensuring America's nuclear security
        Scientific Discovery and Innovation: Strengthening U.S. scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and improving quality of life through innovations in science and technology
Environmental Responsibility: Protecting the environment by providing a responsible resolution to the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons production
        Management Excellence: Enabling the mission through sound management

You'll notice that Nuclear related technologies are explicitly mentioned three times, and that, while energy security is about 'reliable, clean and affordable energy', and presumably economic security is referenced again by that 'affordable' bit, there's also the phrase national security as a separable clause.

Re:You would think...

[oiron]

Yeah, this is slashdot and all, but it wouldn't kill you to RTFA

Both were published while he has been energy secretary, but started long before he took the job in January 2009.

Re:Public Information

[SydShamino]

Are you one of those people that think companies should own every creative output of their employees, even ones done at home on their own time on an unrelated topic?